It was a chaotic spring for us both this year. Chrissie was finishing up her tenure year at school and I was a part of the varsity lacrosse coaching staff for the first time. We only had the time and energy to take a short trip to Las Vegas. We thought we might get away to somewhere more exotic during the summer, but the cheap vacations of two years ago were no where to be found. Instead of looking to Europe, the islands, or even more distant states, Chrissie suggested the Finger Lakes. We'd had such a good time in Napa a few years ago tasting the wine and exploring the fine dining that we thought we might recreate the experience in our own backyard.
The Drive
We left early on Sunday morning and took 87 to 17. The drive on 17 was surprisingly pleasant. Not only did this two lane highway travel at near interstate speeds, but the other drivers showed a lane discipline not often seen in the suburbs. Rarely did a slow driver hang up the left lane. Instead, they drove in a fashion more similar to Europe, politely moving right when they saw faster traffic approaching in their rear view mirrors. I couldn't have been more pleased. Interestingly, I found that the closer we got to Binghamton, the less aware the drivers became of their surroundings. I have a new respect for rural New Yorkers, especially when it comes to road civility.
The drive itself took just over four hours and we arrived in Hammondsport around noon.
Keuka Lake
Chrissie chose Keuka Lake because she read it was the prettiest of the Finger Lakes and because it is home to two of the most recommended vintners on our list. Keuka is one of the smaller of the lakes and driving from tip to tip takes just under half an hour. Unlike wide highway along the larger Seneca next door, the road runs within throwing distance of the water, hugging the shoreline and curving to maintain its safe distance. Keuka is also unique in its offering of lodging. To stay on this lake you either rent a cottage or choose one of the small country inns.
The Wines
New York State wine has come a long way. The Finger Lakes are best known for their Rieslings, but these have certainly matured into more subtle and crafted versions of the sweet offerings I thought of before this trip. While still high on the sugar content, the better wines are drier, more complex, and use the sugar to allow the taste of the fruit to shine through rather than to make an easy drinking wine that more closely resembles grape juice. The primary red we found was Pinot Noir, but the majority of Finger Lake reds were watery and one dimensional.
Possibly the best delight of the trip was that the tasting rooms were either free or charged a nominal two dollars to try flights of five to seven wines.
Our favorite winery was easily Dr. Frank. They produce wines that most resemble the classic European and Californian varieties. They also produce some of the only truly palatable red wines we tasted during our stay.
We liked Dr. Frank so much we brought home a few bottles:
2000 Blanc de Blancs Finger Lakes Champagne- This is a very good sparkling wine done in the traditional methode champenoise. This wine is crisp and delicate and a worthwhile purchase to showcase how a New York can compete with a French.
2006 Gewurztraminer- Sweet, spicy, and interesting. One of our friends requested a bottle so we also got one for ourselves.
2006 Rkatsiteli- Sweet and dry at the same time. This was a well balanced wine we enjoyed during the tasting. The unfamiliar name also helped in this purchase. I will have fun telling friends that I just opened a bottle of Rkatsiteli.
2006 Cabernet Sauvignon- While we didn't try this one, I trusted the gentleman who was pouring our tastes and talking about the wines when he said this is a great cellaring wine. We'll toss it in the cabinet and drink it in a few years and have a chance to reminisce about this vacation.
Here's a picture of the vineyards overlooking Keuka Lake taken from Dr. Frank's:
Other wineries we enjoyed on Keuka were:
We also drove out to eastern Seneca for a few tastes. The two we enjoyed most were:
that houses a spartan, yet elegant, tasting room. Their better than average wine, scenic drive to the top of the ridge, and proximity to Fox Run make them a must stop if you are in that section of Seneca.
If you are on Keuka, I compel you to visit the Pleasant Valley Wine Company. This recommendation has nothing to do with fine wine and everything to do with New York State history. Pleasant Valley was the first bonded winery in the United States and the tour provides a window into the past. The tasting room, now mostly dark and desolate, resonates with the ghosts of imbibers from the years of the Civil War to the 1950s. To demonstrate how far NY wines have come you only have to taste the samplings of Pleasant Valley. These relic wines offer a baseline so genuine I can't believe they are still in production.
The Food
We ate three meals on Keuaka, one of which I wish I could reproduce in Westchester and one of which I wish I could trade back for two hours of my life. The best dining we found on Keuka, which is limited in its dining choices by size and location, was the Pleasant Valley Inn (not to be confused with the above mentioned Pleasant Valley Wine Company). We ate there on the recommendation of Debby, our inn keeper, and were clearly not disappointed.
Only open for dinner Thursday through Sunday, we had to eat there on our first day at the lake. I would have returned each subsequent night had they been open. To begin the meal we both ordered special appetizers. Chrissie had a delicate fried cheese plate and I ate a small presentation of Basque sardines (which our waitress kept referring to as Italian when she explained the specials. Instead of being put off, I found it slightly endearing).
The dinner options were very straightforward, but the lack of haute cuisine was not felt when the perfect cooking came from the kitchen. Chrissie and I both ordered steaks. I had my favorite, the NY strip, and Chrissie had the tenderloin Tuscana, two medallions of filet layered with grilled portobello and served with Gorgonzola butter. I ordered mine medium rare and Chrissie hers rare. Both orders were fired beyond expectation. We tend find that when Chrissie orders rare at home it is typically cooked too far or left blue. I was halfway through my steak when I told Chrissie I wanted to take the chef home with us.
However much we loved the food, I hate to admit the moment I really fell in love with the Pleasant Valley Inn was when the check came. We had drinks, a bottle of wine, appetizers, steaks, coffee, a Port, and a shared dessert and the grand total was one hundred and twenty-two dollars. I was nearly giddy when I calculated the tip. I suppose the only flaw of the evening was the lack of espresso. A high point, exclusive of the perfect steaks, was the bottle of Villa Mt Eden cab. The wine drank like a much more expensive bottle and I hope to find it at home to add to the cabinet.
The counterpoint to this meal came when we ate at the Esperanza Mansion. The only redeeming quality to this dinner was the view of the lake. We were greeted in the dining room by a family of flies loudly seeking a flaw in the window. I let that slide because it is such a beautiful old building and the menu, which I'd seen in some wineries, promised a nice meal. The promises of the menu were not kept by the kitchen. Chrissie's carpaccio resembled a not so thinly sliced not so well executed piece of rare prime rib. It was fairly foul. My scallops were texturally sound, but lacked any browning. It got worse during the main courses when both Chrissie's tuna and my chicken were incredibly overcooked. The entire experience was so consistently bad that we didn't even order drinks after our first round in an effort to expedite our departure and to keep money out of their coffers. Sadly, this meal, with no bottle of wine, no coffee, and no after dinner drinks was the same price as the far superior Pleasant Valley Inn.
I do have to say that we did thoroughly enjoy the boat tour of the lake offered by the Esperanza. The vessel was majestic and storied, the captain was informative and professional, and the crew were attentive to any needs.
The Black Sheep Inn
Chrissie found this inn in Frommer's where it is listed as a value and rated three stars. We've had good luck with similarly reviewed establishments and Chrissie sent them off an email. Later that same evening we got a call from Debbie, the innkeep/chef, and she and Chrissie began planning our trip.
The Black Sheep is located in an historic octagonal house that Debbie and her husband Marc painstakingly and accurately restored over a six year period.
Debbie, a graduate from the New England Culinary Institute and a former Cleveland caterer, greets her arriving guests in the inn driveway and immediately creates a sense of welcome.
The common areas of the inn are comfortable and, more importantly, usable. An inviting living room and dining 
area are on the first floor and the second floor houses a central den stocked with books, magazines, games, and puzzles. The high ceiling of this central room is capped with a stunning cupola adorned with a painted compass that takes full advantage of the daylight and is illuminated at night.
The inn's philosophy is very green and sustainable. They make their own soaps, belong to the farming collective, and cook locally and organically. Debbie is well known in Hammondsport for her cooking and this was clearly exhibited by the breakfasts she creatively put together each morning.
The Black Sheep Inn is not open to the public for dining, but, if you are a guest, Debbie will work with you to create three to five course meals that she serves in the former billiard room of the house. Chrissie and I opted for this on our final night. Debbie's blend of farm fresh food, health conscious cooking, formal culinary training, and years of experience properly ended our home state excursion to sample the wines and foods of Finger Lakes.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Finger Lakes- Keuka
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Final Vegas thoughts- Emeril's and 'wichcraft
We had tickets to see Ka, a Cirque du Soleil production, on our last night. This severely limited our dining options that night. The debate between an early or late dinner was won with 5:30 reservations for Emeril's New Orleans Fish House. Listed by the MGM as a casual dining option, the restaurant impressed us. We let the waitress know we had tickets (the theater was just across the casino floor) and she expedited our meal while still letting us enjoy our dinner.
Neither of us remembers the specifics of the meal (attribute that to too much wine in the sun at the pool, the fact that we ate appetizers and entrees at a record breaking pace, and that two weeks have passed since our visit), but I do remember well cooked fish and interesting flavors. I'd do it again for mid priced Vegas dining that happens to be conveniently located in the hotel in which we are staying.
The surprise meal of the vacation happened by chance. After hiking the strip from end to end and taking the monorail back to the MGM I was starving and could not wait until dinner. I wanted something healthy, yet tasty. Something filling, but not fatty. Passing by the typical fast food, we stopped at 'wichcraft, a sandwich shop operating in the Craft family of restaurants run by Tom Colicchio. I was going to get a warm roasted turkey sandwich when my attention was caught by the roasted pork, cabbage, jalapeno, and mustard sandwich. Served on a surpisingly good ciabatta roll, this sandwich blew me away. The spice of the mustard and the jalapeno, the flavor of the pork, and the crunchy mouth feel of the cabbage combined for several of my most pleasing food minutes of the vacation.
The only other food pleasure I wish to report on is my renewed appreciation for drinking inexpensive wine out of plastic bottles in the sun. In Greece we would buy 2 liter bottles of wine and ration them out into half liter water bottles to take with us on our daily journeys. There is something so wonderfully refreshing about simply enjoying wine as a beverage. I love a fine wine as much as the next guy, but I love being reminded that the pleasure of wine is not only in its flavor and complexity, but in its ability to slightly gild the the little moments of life and to create a community experience for those participating.
Nobhill- Las Vegas
After renting a car just to drive to Rosemary's, we decided to take advantage of the dining options offered by the MGM Grand. In a perfect world we would have eaten at Joel Robouchon, but we had neither the attire nor the capital required to sit for his $250 six course or $385 16 course tasting menus. Not to be defeated, we walked further down the casino floor and explored Nobhill, one of two Michael Mina restaurants in the Grand.
They had no trouble taking our reservation for the next day or for honoring our table request for a private booth. The booths ran parallel to the bar and we were seated in a perfect one between the bar and dining room.
We already knew we were ordering the tasting menu, so our only real decision was about Chrissie's choice of drink. After some deliberation, Chrissie decided to order her first ever wine pairing. To spice things up, she ordered the standard sommelier's and I, for the sake of comparison, ordered the premium pairing. In general terms, I liked only one of wines noticeably more than Chrissie's and she preferred her own by a wide margin. I got the sense that two of my glasses were a bit oxidized, possibly left over from bottles opened during the weekend, but I couldn't tell enough to say something. There was no flaw detected at all in Chrissie's glasses.
The meal began with glasses of champagne and a caviar parfait. The parfait itself was huge, with a shallot-potato cake base, layers of creme fraiche and smoked salmon in the middle, and a frosting of caviar lining the top. The entire dish as a whole was great, but I would have preferred it to be deconstructed so I could better control the ratios of each mouthful. Chrissie did not finish hers because she wanted to save room for what most reviews said was a heavy meal.
The second dish was the signature lobster pot pie that began with a table service from beautiful copper pots. The lobster may have been a little tough, but Chrissie and I both though the dish was fine, but again, overwhelming in its size and composition. One could argue that a diner is definitely getting his money's worth, but we would both prefer to recoup our expenses in other ways than quantity.
I was beginning to get nervous because our next dish was essentially fried chicken served over mac and cheese, but this course turned out to be my favorite of the evening. Everything, from portion to texture, of this dish was perfectly executed. In fact, I could argue against my previous statements and suggest they provide more of the truffled macaroni and cheese. The chicken was exquisitely cooked and seasoned. The crust was delicate and thin. The truffle flavor of the macaroni, along with sauce, provided an earthy anchor for an ethereal plate. After the first two courses I was almost shocked by this dish.
The meal continued to progress beyond the competent, but uninspiring, first two courses with the Kobe beef main course. The meat was perfect and was served with seared foie gras that Chrissie deemed the best in texture and flavor since Gary Danko. She was so enamored by her foie gras that I was able to trade some of mine away with her so I could enjoy more of the beef. Presentation, flavor, and perfect cooking made the last two dishes the most successful of our Vegas trip.
By this point, Chrissie and I were both incredibly stuffed. We're not big dessert people. We would usually rather have another course over dessert, but the Banana Tarte Tatin at Nobhill was one of my favorite desserts ever. I could feel a layer fat growing beneath my chin as I ate, but I was powerless to not finish the plate.
High Points-
Low Points-
Would we go back? If we are ever in Las Vegas again I don't think we will return to Nobhill. The meal was very good, but for the price, there are other restaurants I'd like to experience. We had some great dishes, but for a week's salary I need to be awestruck to contemplate a return visit when there are so many other options. That said, I in no way regret the dinner and I would suggest to anyone in a similar situation that they try this restaurant.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Rosemary's Restaurant- Las Vegas
Chrissie and I just returned from a spring break trip to Las Vegas. In true A Man Has to Eat fashion, our trip centered more around food than casinos. Arriving late Sunday night, we walked from the Signature end of the MGM Grand to the pedestrian entrance on the strip. The round trip expedition to find two dollar bottles of water might have been a mile.
The next day we rented a car for the explicit purpose of driving to Rosemary's, a restaurant about six miles from the strip. After pricing cabs, we determined it would be make more sense to get a car and do some exploring, including a trip out to the Hoover Dam.
Armed with the Garmin unit that Chrissie got me for my birthday, we staked out the restaurant on the way back to the hotel. Set in a suburban strip mall, Rosemary's is one of the true pleasures of Las Vegas. Zaggat gave them a 29 and the Frommer's guide book touts it as the place to go if you truly appreciate food. That was all the prompting we needed to make our reservations two months in advance.
Arriving for a seven o'clock reservation, we found the restaurant beginning to fill up. The interior was much larger than the shopping center facade suggested and the tables were nicely spread apart, filling three rooms: one in the bar, another adjacent to the open kitchen, and a third, where we ate, that created a hypotenuse between the other two.
While Chrissie was washing up, the waitress presented the menus and told me she'd return as soon as Chrissie did to explain the eating options. Able to read for myself, I outlined the a la carte, three course, and chef's tasting menus to Chrissie before our waitress had a chance to return. We didn't rent a car and plan our day around a meal to miss anything, so we quickly decided that the tasting menu was in order.
The only two missteps of the evening revolved around drinks. Since I was getting the wine pairing with my meal, Chrissie decided to order a half bottle instead of getting wines by the glass. They were out of the one she wanted. Not a big deal.
My mistake was more troubling, but, after realizing what was going on, the waitress fixed everything. I wasn't going to have a martini that night, but the menu described the martinis as a four ounce pour of the premium liquor of your choice in a cocktail glass swirled with vermouth. I was powerless to resist the menu's advertising of classic portion and near Churchillian proportion. Unfortunately, there was an error somewhere along the line and the waitress returned with Chrissie's glass of wine and the glass of champagne meant to accompany my first course. I politely asked her if she had brought the champagne before the cocktail on purpose. For a moment she looked confused, and then she remembered that I had ordered a cocktail. The next couple of minutes where the only stressful ones of the evening. I worried if this was a forecast of what the rest of the evening would be like. The stress continued after she retrieved my drink because I now had a martini and a glass of champagne in front of me and I wasn't sure if kitchen understood that I was having a drink. A five course tasting menu involves careful orchestration between the front and back of the house. My apprehension was relieved when the waitress returned a few minutes later assuring us that the kitchen understood the pace of our meal and taking away my champagne with the promise of a freshened glass to go with the first course. It was a tough five minutes, but I made it (only partially tongue in cheek).
The first course was a caviar dish that was everything a caviar dish should be. A delicate, beautiful, and light plate was presented with traditional components deconstructed in a fashion that made it artistic and easy to eat.
The next two courses highlighted the chef's New Orleans background. Course two was a barbecued shrimp dish served over a blue cheese slaw. It was incredibly interesting, but not very special. Course three was a crispy skinned fish served over a creole sauce boasting tiny rock shrimp. Again, it was tasty, but not special. There were other dishes on the menu I think would better highlight the chef's product. These choices, especially after the classic presentation of a caviar first course left me unable to discern a philosophy behind the tasting menu.
The meat course was anchored by two healthy sized lamb chops fired to a consistent medium rare. After the intense flavors of the previous two dishes, I found the lamb chops to be under seasoned. I don't think I would have felt that way had the menu followed a different progression.
High Points-
Low Points-
Would we go back? If we are ever in Vegas again we will certainly return, but I believe we will order the three course menu that allows you to choose your own dishes. There were aspects of the menu that I would have much preferred to explore over the chef's selections.
Rosemary's Restaurant is located at:
8125 West Sahara Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada 89117
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